The almost universally used process for the manufacture of alumina is the Bayer process. In a typical commercial Bayer process, raw bauxite is pulverized to a finely divided state. The pulverized ore is then fed to a slurry mixer where a 50% solids slurry is prepared using spent liquor and added caustic. This bauxite slurry is then diluted and sent through a series of digesters where, at about 300.degree.-800.degree. F. and 100-2000 p.s.i., 98% of the total available alumina is extracted from ore which may contain both trihydrate and monohydrate forms of alumina. The effluent from the digesters passes through a series of flash tanks wherein heat and condensate are recovered as the digested slurry is cooled to about 230.degree. F. and brought to atmospheric pressure. The aluminate liquor leaving the flashing operation contains about 1-20% solids, which consist of the insoluble residues that remain after reaction between the bauxite ore and basic material used to digest the ore and the insoluble products which precipitate during digestion. The coarser solid particles are generally removed with a "sand trap" cyclone. To separate the finer solid particles from the liquor, the slurry is normally fed to the center well of a mud settler where it is treated with a flocculant such as a polyacrylate polymer, flour and/or starch. As the mud settles, clarified sodium aluminate solution, referred to as "green" or "pregnant" liquor, overflows a weir at the top of the mud settling tank and is passed to the subsequent process steps. The settled solids ("red mud") are withdrawn from the bottom of the mud settler and passed through a countercurrent washing circuit for recovery of sodium aluminate and soda. Aluminate liquor overflowing the settler still contains typically 50 to 200 mg of suspended solids per liter. This liquor is then generally further clarified by filtration to give a filtrate with 10 mg. suspended solids per liter of liquor.
Alumina, in relatively pure form, is then precipitated from the filtrate as alumina trihydrate crystals. The remaining liquid phase or spent liquor is returned to the initial digestion step and employed as a digestant of additional ore after being reconstituted with additional caustic.
The aforementioned insoluble components should be separated at a relatively fast rate to make the overall Bayer process efficient. This is generally accomplished in large settlers or decanters. The separation itself should be clean and complete with but minimal amounts of residue remaining as a dispersed phase in the solubilized alumina liquor. After passage through the filtration step, the level of suspended solids should be sufficiently low to provided an alumina product from the precipitation step which meets all of the industry standards.
The efficient removal of suspended solids from Bayer process streams has been a major problem for many years.
Among the methods of overcoming the above problems and materially speeding up separation of suspended solids from process streams as well as effecting a cleaner separation of the constituents are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,959 which employs polyacrylates as anionic flocculants and U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,012, which uses combinations of polyacrylates and starch in Bayer alumina recovery circuits. Also of interest in this connection are U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,496 which uses a copolymer of acrylic acid and methylolated acrylamide for the same purpose, and U.K. Patent Specification Nos. 2080272 and 2112366, which use, sequentially, combinations of polyacrylic acid and acrylate-acrylamide copolymers. Other approaches have been proposed: in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56092116 (7/25/81) is disclosed starch cationized with a quaternary ammonium salt for use as a coagulant; U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,925 promotes separation from alkali metal aluminate liquor by contacting it with anionic polyacrylamide under special conditions within the mud settler; East German (DE) Pat. No. 2552804 (8/11/77) subjects starch to treatment with sodium tetraborate and a magnesium salt to provide improved flocculating properties with lower levels of starch; Russian Pat. No. 507526 (4/06/76) reports that cationic flocculants of the formula (R--AR--CH.sub.2 --N--Ph).sup.+ Cl.sup.- are better for solids flocculation than other known flocculants; Japanese Pat. No. J74018558 (10/05/74) discloses using an inorganic calcium compound and sodium polyacrylate for sedimentation and filtration. The use of hydroxamated polymers as flocculants for cassiterite is disclosed in Jour. So. African Inst. of Mining and Metallurgy; Vol. 76; pgs. 117-119 (1975) by Appleton et al.
The process of the present invention is designed to more effectively remove suspended solids from Bayer process streams. The improvement forming the basis of the present invention lies in adding and efficiently mixing a polymer containing hydroxamic acid groups into the Bayer process caustic aluminate process stream alone or subsequent to, followed by or in association with a conventional starch, flour and/or a polyacrylate polymer flocculant (e.g., in a primary settler). This treatment leads to reduced levels of suspended solids in the process streams when compared with state-of-the-art processes, as exemplified by the patents mentioned above. Such reductions in suspended solids can significantly reduce the need for filtration. Since the suspended solids may contain undesirable impurities such as iron or titanium, the reductions in suspended solids achieved by practice of the present invention may also result in improved purity of the resultant alumina product.